Morning Chirps: Blackhawks make line changes, Stars forward officially done for the season

The Chicago Blackhawks are back in action later this afternoon against the NHL-leading Colorado Avalanche. They have a tough weekend with a quick turnaround against the Utah Mammoth tomorrow. As always, we are your game day stop for all things Blackhawks.

Blackhawks Chirps

• The Blackhawks practiced yesterday at Denver University, and Jeff Blashill made some changes to his lines. Teuvo Teravainen was bumped up to the second line with Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore. Tyler Bertuzzi slid down to the third line, with Ryan Donato taking rushes with Nick Foligno and Landon Slaggert on the fourth line.

• We are now less than a week away from the NHL trade deadline, and yesterday I did my best to predict who will go and who will stay.

• The Rockford IceHogs lost 4-1 to the Hershey Bears last night. Things started well as Joey Anderson scored a power-play goal late in the second period to open the scoring. Aidan Thompson and Gavin Hayes continued their recent hot streaks with the assists. It was all downhill from there as the Bears scored four unanswered goals, including two from prospect Andrew Cristall. Drew Commesso made 27 saves in the loss. Olivier Rodrigue should make his team debut in tonight’s rematch, which is the Live on Social Game of the Week. You can watch tonight's game for free on FloHockey’s YouTube channel.

• Nick Lardis was back in action last night after missing Sunday's game with a minor injury. Forward Samuel Savoie missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury and is expected to miss one to two weeks.

• In Ontario Hockey League action, Marek Vanacker scored his league-leading 42nd goal of the season and recorded an assist in the Brantford Bulldogs’ 7-3 victory against the Oshawa Generals. Jack Pridham had two primary assists as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Brampton Steelheads 8-2. Finally, AJ Spellacy had a goal and two assists in the Windsor Spitfires’ big 6-1 win over the London Knights.

• On this date in 1929, the Blackhawks and New York Rangers skated to a scoreless draw and set a new NHL record by being shut out for an eighth straight game. And you thought the offense had struggled this season!

• In 2015, the Blackhawks acquired Antoine Vermette from the Arizona Coyotes for Klas Dahlbeck and a first-round draft pick. He was a key depth piece for a third Stanley Cup championship in six seasons. Vermette ended up re-signing with the Coyotes in the offseason. They used the draft pick on forward Nick Merkley, who was eventually traded to the New Jersey Devils for Taylor Hall.

• In 2021, Patrick Kane became the 100th player in NHL history to score 400 career goals, as the Blackhawks rolled to a 7-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

• Blackhawks Birthday Roll Call, Feb. 28: Ryan McGill, Ryan VandenBussche, Matt Carey, and Brett Seney.

NHL Chirps

• According to Elliotte Friedman, the St. Louis Blues are looking for a similar return on Justin Faulk as the Calgary Flames got on Rasmus Andersson. The Vegas Golden Knights gave up Zach Whitecloud, a first and second-round pick, and a college prospect for Andersson. Faulk is still capable of playing top-four minutes and is also signed for next season.

• Friedman also reported that the Dallas Stars have filed the paperwork to declare that forward Tyler Seguin will miss the remainder of the season and the playoffs. This allows them to unlock over $6 million in salary cap space heading into the trade deadline.

• Earlier this week, Pierre LeBrun reported that Steven Stamkos was willing to waive his no-movement clause for three teams. On Friday, the future Hall of Famer pushed back by telling reporters that he hadn’t talked to general manager Barry Trotz at all about a trade. He later added that there is “zero chance” that he’d be willing to waive his clause.

• When the Blackhawks get to Winnipeg to take on the Jets on Tuesday, they won’t have to worry about Nino Niederreiter. The veteran forward was placed on injured reserve on Friday with an undisclosed injury.

• NHL Birthday Roll Call, Feb. 28: Joe Malone, Barry Wilkins, Mark Pavelich, Mikko Makela, Stephan Lebeau, Shawn MacEachern, Eric Lindros, Jakub Vrana, and Darren Raddysh.